Device for handling butter and like materials



Sept. 2, 1952 A. H. RlSHOl ETAL DEVICE FOR HANDLING BUTTER AND LIKE MATERIALS Filed May 13, 1943 2. SHEETS-SHEET 1 Warm/74 L 0027M Ear/6Z6, 7

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 A. H. RlSHOl ET AL DEVICE FOR HANDLING BUTTER AND LIKE MATERIALS Filed May 15, 1943 Sept. 2, 1952 Patented Sept. 2, 1952 UNITED Application-May 13, 1943,, sejr'iai'inofisa-sie This invention relates to new and useful improvements in devices and thelike for handling oleaginous materials, such as butter and fats,

which normally have a tendency to adhere to 'surfaces with which they come in contact. More particularly this invention relates to improve-- 5 cl i s. (Cl. el -3's) ments in surfaces-'ior'contacting materials. '-;The I improved surfaces "are adapted to receive a-jfilm of liquid, such as water, and are 'capable of gretaming-such a film of liquidv whilebeing subjected to friction and percussive impact in-the handling of fatty or'oily materials.v I r This invention is particularly well adaptedfor use in churns and 'butterworkers and in other similar devices, such as butter molds and printers.

The invention will accordingly be describedin its preferred embodiment in a churn and butterworker. The invention is, however; equally well adapted for use in other devices for the handling of other products which'have the characteristics of tending to adhere to dry surfaces'of handling devices in a similar manner as is commonly experienced in the'handlin'g of butter. 4..

Theaspect of the applicants inventionwhi'ch pertains to A Method of churning and Working Butter is disclosed and claimed in the applicants co-pending divisional application Serial No. 88,014, filed April 16, 1949. i e In conventionalchurns and butterworkers'narticularly commercial varieties; the butter contacting surfaces are commonly constructed of wood. In some isolated instances the butter contacting surfaces consist of enameledor glazedsurf'a'ces which have been etched or sandblasted. :In still other instances the butter contactin surfacesof such devices have been made. of etched "or sand' blasted metal sheets. In some instances the bu't ter contacting surfaces in butter handling devices have been made of cast metal or a combination of castmetal and wood. Y

The use of wood in the construction of churns and butter-workers has been commonplace for many years. The wood construction has the advantage that the butter during the churning and working operation does not normally adhere to -the moistened wood. This is probably due to the fact that the porous wood which possesses good wetting and water absorbing and retaining properties, after first having been moistened; is capable of and does retain a film of liquid which prevents the direct contact between the surface of the wood and the surface of the butter within the churn, thereby preventing the objectionable adhesion of the butter to the wood. Obviously such a film of liquid must be capable of withstanding the fr ction and impact a mess ,of

jbutte'r'as' it 'isb'ein'g" worked within the churn.

Due ,to the iaot that wood is capable of absorbing a substantial quantity of moisture 'itj isv also capable of replenishing "the moleture within'the film on the surface ofthe wood as that film may fro'mti'me. to time in eertainins'tances be absorbed by the butter. due to the frictional'oipercussive engagement with the butter. p a a "There are, however, "various objections to the use of wood or like materials in "the construction ofreceotacles or other devices ioriha ndling a material, such as butter, and particularly for the handling of food products which "must be maintained in a cleanfand 'sanitary condition, A wooden churn drum. espeorally when new, may impart an objectionable woody flavor to the better; The porosity of thewood and the seams between adjacent wooden members embodied in a churn by T'virtue of. which porosit and seams the wooden churn drum is capable of "absorbin and holding quantities or water, which enablesthe very 'satis'fa'ctoryrete'fntion of a film or water on the surface or thewooden' members, is' also the reasonwhy a wooden churn drum is diilicultto clean and "sterilize.

.Oibviously when the wooden members of the churn drum abso'rl) water they may also absorb food matter which may lodge in the sub-surface of the wood, thereby impeding sterilization and cleansing of "the churn drum and enhancing the likelihood of contamination of the churn ultimate-contamination oi the butter. It is common knowledge that churns constructed of wood, if not meticulously cleaned and sterilized, which cleaning and sterilizing is"extreme1ydifiicult, lend themselves well to the development ormomsand yeast whichte'nd to contaminate the'churnsand ultimately contaminate the butter; The tendency of wood towarp, shrink and'decay is an additionally objectionable feature of the use of wood for the construction of churn drums. These objectio'nable characteristics of wood present structural and sanitary problems in the design, construction and use of churn drums made of wood.

One of the chief objections to the use of'glazed, e'namled or glass-lined surfaces in a churn and butterworker i'sfthe ever present danger of chipping of the enamel or glass surfaces and the resultant danger of incorporating such foreign matter in the ultimate butter product. It has also been found that etched or sandblasted surfaces ofglazed, enameled or glass-lined churns do not satisfactorily retain a film of liquid to prevent the tial to withstand the friction and percussive im Y tively coarse grained surface.

pact experienced in the normal butter churning and working operations. s

rosion has been induced by heat treatments to cause precipitation of chromium carbide, and sheet tin, iron, steel and copper treated in the various combinations of sandblasting, metalblasting and metallizing.

During the comparativetests of various combinations of metals and alloys as 'Tabove referred to and other materials, such as g'lassaiid enamel- Cast metal in certain instances does appeal-to Q? be capable of retaining a suitable film ofliquid to permit the satisfactory use thereof .inthecon struction of churns and .butterworkers, How ever, the construction of large cast metal churns adapted for use as commercial churns and butter;

roughened surfacejis addedjan auxiliary porous surface coating as, for example, bymetallizing or the like in the instance of the use ofsheet metal, willsatisfactorilyretain a film of 'liquid f sufii cient strength to withstand the frictionand'percussive impact of large quantities of butter orgthe like as theyare being churned and. worked'in a largelcommercial churn provided with the improved material contacting surfaces.

, In the preferred vembodimentlofj'the invention there hasbeen provided'a metallizedsurfa'ce imposed uponi a sandblasted or" otherwise suitably roughened surface of a sheetof rolled or worked metal; preferably stainless'steel. The selected metal, in the instance ofthe metallizing substanceandtherolled or worked sheet metal, may, of course, be of various types. In each instance it is, however, desirable to. select metals from the group commonly referred to as stainlless metals ,for the reason that these metals, are

ing' the instant invention, the factors 'o'fjavailability, durability, resistance to corrosion, chemical reaction .with the product handled, wetting properties, liquidabsorption and liquid film retaining and replenishing capacity ,and cleaning and stare iliz'ing properties should beconsidered.v Numer 'ous combinations of metals and, types of tre'atment of the metals have been eiiperimenteci' with and it has been found that such sheet metals as tinned iron, aluminum, and ordinary ,ironsfand steels are all generally objectionable for thereasonthat they are usually subject to excessive corrosion and in some cases enterinto. an objectionable chemical reaction with such productsas'milk andbutter. l I V I V [Obviously anymetal or group of jmetals 'selected must also lend itself wellj to"fabrication of the desired type of receptacle or material handling device. Comparative testswere made on wood, cast aluminum, metalblasted and sand blasted aluminum, metalblasted and sandblasted sheets of stainless steel metallizedwith aluminum or stainless steel or other steel alloy, sandblasted glass, chemically corroded stainless steel, heat treated stainless steel in which intergranular c'orware, it was found that the fine-grained butter contacting surface was not as desirable as a rela- It was also observed, with respect to certain metals, that the metallizing process apparently decreased the resistance to corrosion of the normally non-corrosive base or supporting metals. It was found that ,coarse-grained, preferably sandblasted, stainless steel sheet metal of the 18-8 variety metallized .with'Inc'on'el, a'trade-mark of the International Nickelcompany used to identify an alloy containing approximately 13 per cent chromium, per cent iron, and 79 per cent nickeL possessed the desirable characteristics of durability, satisfactory resistance to corrosion, good wetting properties, and good liquidabsorptionand liquid film retaining and replenishing propertiesi The alloy 18-8 is an improved corrosion resistant alloy. as described in various-authoritative publications, such as the Metals Handbook of the Amr'eican Society for Metals (1939 edition) page'54l;1the Monograph of'the American Chemical Socie'ty, monograph series, entitled Corrosion Resistance of Metals and Alloys, by Robert Jl McKay- 'and Robert Worthington, published by the Reinhold Publishing Corp.,-'330 'West' 42nd Street, "New York, N. Y., 1936; and the Bulletin T-7 (revised as of January 1939), Property and Usesof Inconel, published by the Developmentan'dResearch Division of The International Nickel Company, Inc.,.6'7 Wall Street, New York, N, Y. It was also found that such a roughened, stainless steel surface metallize'd to the desired extent with Inconel was also readily cleaned and sterilized'.

It should be noted that satisfactory results were: also obtained when the stainless steel surface-was roughened by metalblasting' instead-of sandblasting; It was discovered that the'slight tendency of the metallized' surfaces of the stainless steel to corrode was substantially'reduced when the metallizing process was performed'in an atmosphere of inert gas to prevent the oxidation of small particles of molten or semimolten metal as they were percussively'impacted against the roughened surface of the base metal to which they adhere primarily by a mechanical bond. Suitable base surfaces for metallizing may also be produced by appropriate machining operations. 7 1

It is, of course, common knowledge that the chemical composition of butter, particularly salted butter (sodium chloride), is such as to tend to corrode many of the common metals and alloys which otherwise may be satisfactory for use in the embodiments of the present invention. "Theselected metals, alloys or other compositions, such as plastics, for use infthe present invention must be such as will not-be readily affected by the chemicals present in a product, such as butter, to be handled.

The prime object of the present invention. is to provide a surface for contacting butter and like materials inwhich the surface is adapted to receive 'and retain a film of liquid; in which the surface is of such a structure as maybe readily cleaned and sterilized; in which the surface material lends itself to the ready fabrication able machining. process, and after. allforeign material has beenremovedtherefrom and while it-:=isrclean, the metallizingcoating should. be

applied insuch a mannenas to secure the desired degree of interlocking between the roughencd surface and, metallized .particles and to the; desireddegree of roughness andporosity or spacing of. the metal particles one fromanother .and between portions of the metal particles and the face of the metallized surface.- The metal- .a; similar type of surface produced by them:-

pl-ication of minute particles of plastic substances ,upon a suitably roughened base of plastic ma- [terial is also contemplated :by .this invention:

.In the operation of a churn and butterworker embodying the improved surface of this invention, after the surface has been moistened with liquid, such as water, to form a film thereon, the desired quantity of cream of the consistency and at the temperature preferred is introduced into .the churn drum. The churn is then rotated at a suitable speed until the desired agglomeration of the butter fat globules in the cream is effected after which the buttermilk i drained from the churn drum. Water may then be added to the agglomerated mass of butter flakes and the mass washed by rotating the churn drum, after which the water or other washing liquid is also drained from the churn. The churn is then further rotated at a satisfactory speed for a suitable period of time to work the butter and, if desired, predetermined quantities of salt and watermay be added for uniform distribution throughout the mass of butter. As will be apparent upon an inspection of Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the mass of cream and also the mass of butter, during the phases of the various churning and butterworking operations, will be percussively im-' pacted against the improved surfaces of portions of the interior of the churn drum, shelves and central element. Obviously during the rotation of the churn drum, the mass of butter, as it is being worked, will also slide'over the moistened surface of the exposed elements of the interior of the churn drum, shelves and central element. It will be apparent that by this invention there has beenprovided an improved surfac'ereadily adaptable for use in devices, such as churns and butterworkers, molds, printers, etc., which surfacemay be made from readily available materials and possesses the desired qualities of durabllity and resistance to corrosion. r The improved surface and associated materials lend themselves readily to fabrication, cleaning and sterilizing and are substantially 'neutral in their effect on butter and like products. Due to the ability of the improved surface to retain within its artificially produced pores a suitable quan-. tity of liquid, when moistened, and to retain and maintain a tenacious surface film of liquid, when moistened, the improved surface is particularly well-adapted for use in devices used in the handling of butter and like fatty materials, which materials would otherwise tend to adhere to the surfaces of the devices. Although the invention has been primarily de scribed with respect to the preferred embodiment thereof incorporated in a churn and butterworker and. constructed of the preferred metals and '8 alloys,*var'ious modifications of the improved butter andthe' like contacting surfaces within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilledin the art'upon a. review of the foregoing description and the appended claims. I

'The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1.:Adevice for use as a churn and butterworker comprising asheet metal drum provided with a roughened inner surface, said drum being formed from a'rust-resistant alloy containing at least 18 percent chromium and a covering layer of an alloy containing at least 18 percent chromium which has been appli'edto said roughened surface by metalli'zation, whereby a butter contacting surface is secured, which surface when moistened 'wi-llnot readily adhere to butter.

2. A device for the handling of butter like products comprisinga sheet metal drum provided with a roughened inner surface, said drumbeing formed of rust-resistant aluminum and metallized with a covering inner layer of aluminum, whereby a contacting surface is secured,'which contacting surface when moistened willjnot readil'yadhere to butter-like products.

f 3. A device for thehandling of butter-like products comprising a sheet metal drum provided with a roughened inner surface, said drum being formed of arust-resistant alloy and metallized with a covering inner layer of aluminum alloy. whereby a contacting surface is secured which contacting surface when moistened will not readily adhere to butter-like products.

4. A" device for the handling of butter-like products comprising a sheetmetal drum provided with a roughenedinner surface, said drum being formed of rust-resistant aluminum and metallized with a covering inner layer of minute particles of aluminum secured to said surface, wherebyacont'acting surface is secured which contacting surface when moistened will not readily adhere to butter-like products.

5. A device for the handling of butter-like products comprising a sheet metal drum provided with a roughened inner surface, said drum bein formed of a rust-resistant alloy and metallized with a covering inner layer of minute particles of a rust-resistant alloy securedto said surface, whereby a contacting surface issec'ured. which contacting surface when moistened will not readily adhere to butter-like products.

ALFRED H. RISHOI. I CHARLES F. WE'INREICH. v LOOMIS BURRELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent;

UNITED sTATEs PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES "I-Iandbook of Chemistry and Physics, twentythird edition, published in 19 9 by Chemical Rubber Publishing 00., Cleveland, Ohio, page 888.- 

